Proposed '04 schedule issued

Sox would begin, end in Baltimore

By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff, 9/16/2003

The Red Sox will begin and end the 2004 season in Baltimore, under the proposed schedule given out by Major League Baseball. The Sox are scheduled to open in Camden Yards on April 5, the first of four games against the Orioles. They are scheduled to end the season in Baltimore Oct. 1-3.

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The home opener is scheduled for April 9 against Toronto, part of a 10-game homestand against the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Yankees, whose first visit will be a four-game weekend series ending with a Patriots Day matinee April 19.

All three Yankees visits will come on weekends, the others being July 23-25 and Sept. 24-26. Two of the three Sox visits to New York will be on weekends: a three-game set April 23-25, and another three-game set Sept. 17-19. The other Boston visit to New York is scheduled for June 29-30 and July 1.

Interleague games at home are scheduled in June against the Padres, Dodgers, and Phillies, with the Padres and Dodgers making their first-ever visits to Fenway Park.

Interleague series on the road are scheduled for Colorado (June 15-17), San Francisco (July 18-20), and Atlanta (July 2-4). The Sox will be making their first-ever visit to San Francisco; they've played an exhibition in Denver against the Rockies.

The longest trip of the season is a 12-game excursion through Baltimore, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, and Detroit, scheduled for July 26-Aug. 8.

The schedule is subject to review by the players' union and could undergo minor revisions.